STATE STORIES
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080317/POLITICS01/803170373/1022/POLITICS
Legislation for do-over is in limbo
Obama must agree to repeat election before bill is written
Mark Hornbeck and Deb Price / The Detroit
News
Monday, March 17, 2008
LANSING -- State lawmakers looking at a Democratic presidential primary redo in Michigan appear to be locked in a standoff heading into a crucial week: Legislative leaders say the U.S. Sen. Barack Obama camp needs to agree to the repeat election before legislation is written, and Obama supporters say they must see the bill before signing off on the plan. Whether Michigan
has a do-over primary in June depends on resolving that issue. State Sen. Tupac Hunter, D-Detroit, said Sunday that allies of U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are bent on a do-over primary to enable their candidate to try to pull up to Obama in the presidential race. Hunter said he won't sign off on a repeat election unless he sees detailed legislation answering his concerns. "Clinton
folks will do anything to open Michigan
back up," said Hunter, who is co-chairman of the Obama campaign in Michigan
. "She is in a hunt for delegates. Why this sudden pull out all the stops to give Hillary Clinton every opportunity to try to catch up? Guess what? It's not going to happen. This legislator is not going to facilitate it." Obama leads Clinton
by 123 in the race for pledged and superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention, according to the New York Times' latest tally. But Senate Democratic Leader Mark Schauer of Battle Creek, who expected to see some bill language late Sunday or today, said legislative leaders aren't likely to spend a lot of time working out details unless they get a nod first from the Obama people.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080317/POLITICS01/803170377/1022/POLITICS
Clerks divided over absentee ballot mailing
Jim Lynch / The Detroit
News
Monday, March 17, 2008
MOUNT
CLEMENS
-- At 82, Irene Mazur regularly votes by absentee ballot.
The active Warren
resident and former schoolteacher says those ballots let her vote when she has time. For her friends and relatives in assisted living centers, absentee ballots give them more time to study the candidates and make choices without feeling rushed.
"One of my friends tells me that (absentee ballots) give her the chance to really read the thing through," Mazur said. "She likes to be able to sit down and focus on what she's doing." That's why Mazur likes the idea of receiving an absentee ballot application in the mail before each election without having to request one. But the practice has generated unexpected controversy in Macomb
County
ever since Clerk Carmella Sabaugh made it something of a personal crusade -- over the objections of some Republicans, who say it's illegal, and some local clerks, who say it overrides their authority.
Throughout Michigan
, the disabled, those 60 and older and residents who will be out of town on Election Day can vote by absentee ballot. They can receive one in the mail by notifying their local clerk's office. In many municipalities, however, clerks don't wait to be contacted. Many automatically send applications to residents who are older than 60, while others send ballots only to those who have asked. With communities taking a variety of approaches to their mailings, critics say it is long past time for the state Legislature to act to create uniform regulations.
http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/16728776.html
Primary Do-over Issues
Posted: 6:48 PM Mar 16, 2008
Last Updated: 1:22 AM Mar 17, 2008
Reporter: Tiffany Teasley
It's a 7th inning stretch of sorts, before the next April Democratic primary in Pennsylvania
. But the rush for Michigan
democrats to negotiate a state-run primary do-over is just beginning. "There are a number of different people that have to sign off on this before it takes place, but again the key issue is to have michigan's voice heard in this process," said Chris DeWitt, a Clinton Campaign spokesman, But DeWitt says a 50/50 delegate split or a proportional delegate split still wouldn't give a fair voice for Michigan voters." It should be the people that have the ultimate say in this process," DeWitt said.
Senator Clinton is already backing the plan that requires approval from both campaigns the Democratic National Committee, the Governor and the legislature.
Michigan
democrats are eying June 3 as the date to hold a privately funded do-over, but Ingham County Clerk Mike Bryanton says a May 6th school board election in areas like Delhi Township Haslett and Okemos wouldn't give his office the 60 day window of time needed to prepare for an additional election just a month later.
"That would mean that in 30 days we would have to hold another state-wide election, we would not have time," Bryanton said. Bryanton says ballot training and election inspector training all takes time, but Dewitt says it's a chance for Michigan
to get the notoriety it was looking for. "The issue of the relevance of michigan
in this process and florida
for that matter will certainly go up," DeWitt said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/16/AR2008031602075.html
Yet More Trouble For Detroit Mayor
Kilpatrick Defends Use of Racial Slur In His Recent State of the City Speech
By Darryl Fears
Washington
Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 17, 2008; Page A03
The calls for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's resignation are growing louder as some of Michigan
's most powerful public officials described the mayor's use of the N-word during his recent State of the City speech as a new low.
In the Tuesday speech, Kilpatrick (D) said he is being called the racial pejorative more than ever since recently disclosed text messages indicated an affair between the mayor and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, as well as possible financial wrongdoing involving tens of millions of dollars. Kilpatrick also ripped City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr., who joined several council members in defying tradition by refusing to join the mayor onstage. Kilpatrick, who is African American, defended his use of the word through his media relations staff, saying he wanted people to know the harshness of the letters, including "death threats," he has received.
But in a meeting on the morning after the speech, Detroit
industrialist Dave Bing and two of Kilpatrick's most powerful business allies told him that his words had hurt Detroit
and that he was losing credibility. A spokeswoman for Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm (D) said the governor was "shocked" that the mayor used the word, which she condemns. Critics said the speech harkened back to the racial tension that defined Detroit
and its suburbs during the mayoral administration of Coleman Young.
"Injecting race into this is setting the city back and setting the region back and setting the state back," said Mike Cox, the state's attorney general, who called on the mayor to resign.
http://www.hollandsentinel.com/stories/031608/local_20080316003.shtml
Bill would boost tourism funding
State House to vote on using $40 million from tobacco settlement
By ANDREW McGLASHEN Capital News Service
Sunday, March 16, 2008
LANSING Most of us are tired of winter in Michigan
, but Steve Yencich wants to see a lot more of it. Yencich, president of the Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association, told the House Tourism, Outdoor Recreation and Natural Resources Committee that the state should add a record $40 million to its tourism budget and, for the first time, promote winter recreation. And he wasn't alone. On two days' notice, 53 people from the tourism industry appeared to show their support before the committee, he said. The legislation won unanimous approval in the committee and is awaiting a full House vote. Its primary sponsors are Reps. Kate Ebli, D-Monroe; Terry Brown, D-Pigeon; and Kenneth Horn, R-Frankenmuth. Funding would come from refinancing tobacco settlement bonds. The $40 million would be used over two years for travel advertising. Another $20 million would be spent to promote business development under the legislation. Yencich said the money is needed, and that he is "very pleased and very grateful" that the legislation is moving. In the past, he said, "we've had our head handed to us on a budgetary platter" for not lobbying strongly enough.
http://theoaklandpress.com/stories/031608/loc_20080316445.shtml
Bills luring film industry to Michigan
By CHARLES CRUMM
Of The Oakland
Press
Sunday, March 16, 2008
At the Michigan Film Office in Lansing
, Janet Lockwood usually receives six movie scripts a year. There's 46 scripts on my desk," Lockwood said Friday. "We're getting calls from all over the place. It's going to be a busy year." Sparking the renewed interest in Michigan
by the film industry is an incentive package passed by both the state House and Senate and expected to make it into law shortly. The meat of the package is a 40 percent cash rebate to film companies that make movies here, with an extra 2 percent if they film in one of the state's 103 designated distressed communities, such as Pontiac
.
The bills also include tax incentives for equipment and training essential to the film industry. The House and Senate have passed their own versions of the film package, and the two chambers are expected to reconcile their differences this week before sending a final version to the governor for her signature. Lockwood says the incentive package is now the best in the country. "A lot of money is going to come to Michigan
and a lot of people," Lockwood said. Incentives boosted Louisiana
's film industry from $7 million a year to $300 million a year, said state Rep. Andy Meisner, D-Ferndale. "We now have the most comprehensive long-term strategy in the country," Meisner said. "By doing this, we'll get 60 percent of something instead of zero percent of nothing. This is a dynamic high-growth industry. "We've got urban areas, suburban, rural, the Great Lakes, inland lakes and rivers, Mackinac Island
. We have a lot of natural assets that play to our favor," Meisner said. Michigan
has always had a film industry. Despite the occasional feature film shot in the state -- the most recent being the Will Ferrell comedy "Semi-Pro" in Flint -- most of the filming has centered on industrial films or commercials. "We never really had a strong feature business here," said Lon Stratton of Stratton Camera in Farmington Hills
, which rents the equipment needed for filming. "The commercial business in general has been down."
http://theoaklandpress.com/stories/031608/opi_20080316426.shtml
A blueprint for Michigan
lawmakers
Renaissance group offers Lansing
common-sense plan to repair state
By GLENN GILBERT
Of The Oakland
Press
Sunday, March 16, 2008
We have seen and commented endlessly on the current state government's limited competence, but unfortunately, taxpayers have to keep trying to get lawmakers to act responsibly. What they do -- or at least what they are supposed to do -- is just too important to write off. "We have to keep the drumbeat going," says Doug Rothwell, president of Detroit Renaissance. His organization is not only doing that, but telling Lansing
specifically what it ought to do. The group has outlined a relatively simple agenda that could reasonably be enacted this year. There is no need for extensive research on the proposals or endless legislative hearings. Ample groundwork has been done. You hate to call it "Legislating for Dummies," but it could be looked at that way.
Aside from the practical good it would do for the people, there are many valid political reasons for carrying out the proposals this year. Most important, there are many lame-duck lawmakers who are term-limited, so they may be able to take risks they otherwise wouldn't be positioned for if they were seeking re-election. Also, this Legislature could still redeem itself and work to turn around or neutralize what otherwise will be a very negative legacy from its poor record last year. Plus, the proposals are genuinely bipartisan. Although it is a business group, and thus perhaps thought to lean Republican, Detroit Renaissance's agenda includes plenty of common-sense items that everyone should be able to agree on. For instance, the group advocates that lawmakers should "bring spending for Michigan
's prison population in line with other Great Lakes
states." This is something that Gov. Jennifer Granholm has championed. The key is reform, not just cutting spending and letting criminals out on the streets. National studies tell of worthy efforts that have reduced both prison populations and repeat offenses in other states. All lawmakers have to do is borrow these ideas, implement them and claim credit. How easy is that! By the way, Detroit Renaissance is much more than just a Detroit
group. Twenty-two of its 55 board members are presidents and chief executive officers of Oakland County-based companies.
http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080316/OPINION01/803160338/1014/OPINION
Is it time for part-time Legislature?
Rich Perlberg
Is it time for Michigan
to move to a part-time Legislature?
That was a question posed last week at a state chamber of commerce dinner that featured a question-and-answer session with the four leading lawmakers from the state House and state Senate — two Republicans and two Democrats. Three of the four demurred. Only Republican Mike Bishop, the Senate majority leader from Rochester
, was enthusiastic about the idea. When others listed objections, Bishop quietly noted that at least 30 other states have part-time lawmaking bodies and they haven't slipped into the sea.
It's a fair question. It's hard to imagine that those 30 states are somehow governed worse than Michigan
. I know, I know. A recent report gave Michigan
a B-plus in government, which was one of the highest grades in the nation. It make you wonder about the states that only got a C. Maybe they have a long-standing structural budget deficit. Maybe they took so long to pass a budget that the state was temporarily shut down. Maybe they passed a new business tax and, before it went into effect, passed a new tax on that tax. Maybe those states enacted a new sales tax that, for instance, taxed skiing but not golf.
Oh, wait. That's Michigan
. So what in blazes did these state do that were graded worse than Michigan
?
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080316/METRO/803160327
Obama, Clinton
campaigns still at odds over Michigan
redo
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Deb Price and Mark Hornbeck / The Detroit
News
WASHINGTON
-- State Sen. Tupac Hunter said today that allies of Hillary Clinton are bent on a do-over primary to enable their candidate to try to pull even in the presidential race and that he won't sign off on a repeat election unless he sees detailed legislation answering his concerns. "Clinton
folks will do anything to open Michigan
back up," said the Detroit Democrat, who is co-chair of the Barack Obama campaign in Michigan
.
"She is in a hunt for delegates. Why this sudden pull out all the stops to give Hillary Clinton every opportunity to try to catch up. Guess what? It's not going to happen. This legislator is not going to facilitate it," Hunter said. Obama leads Clinton
by 123 delegates.
Hunter added that he isn't unalterably opposed to a do-over contest in Michigan
.
But he wants to see the money to pay for it up front and won't agree to legislation authorizing a redo "with a promise from governors who are Clinton
supporters that they'll raise the money at some point and meanwhile Michigan
taxpayers have to put the money out first. The money has to be in the treasury first. That's just fiscally prudent."
Hunter's comments signal the complicated forces at play as the Michigan Legislature returns Tuesday to face possible legislation on holding a primary to ensure the state's delegates are counted.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_DETROIT_MAYOR_PERJURY_MIOL-?SITE=MIPON&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-16-10-26-19
Mar 16, 10:26 AM EDT
Prosecutor says findings of Detroit
mayor case will "surprise"
DETROIT
(AP) -- Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says she thinks people will be surprised by the findings in the investigation into whether Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will face perjury charges in a text message scandal. Worthy tells WDIV-TV in Detroit
she has made her decision but wouldn't reveal details as her team completes its work. Her comments came Sunday morning in a taped segment for "FlashPoint."
She says her team has reviewed 40,000 documents in the "all-encompassing" 55-day probe and issued subpoenas that others may not have considered. Worthy said last week her office needed more time to investigate whether Kilpatrick and former top aide Christine Beatty lied under oath during a whistle-blowers' trial last summer. Both denied having a romantic relationship. Kilpatrick approved a confidential settlement of that lawsuit that cost city taxpayers $8.4 million.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/884qfzox.asp
Why We Went Into Iraq
The question McCain must answer.
by Peter D. Feaver
03/24/2008, Volume 013, Issue 27
On the night that John McCain secured the Republican nomination, he said about Iraq
that "it is of little use to Americans for their candidates to avoid the many complex challenges of these struggles by re-litigating decisions of the past." He is right that it would be a mistake for his campaign to focus on the past at the expense of the future. Either of his Democratic opponents will be on far more vulnerable terrain defending the incoherencies of their proposed plans to "end" the war than if they get to cherry-pick debates from the past with the benefit of hindsight. But there are at least four reasons why Senator McCain would be making a mistake if he avoided entirely the historical debate. First and foremost, the historical case remains an important factor in determining votes. In these times, political leaders are asking voters two questions: Will you vote for me, and do you have the stomach for continuing this costly war? As two colleagues (Christopher Gelpi and Jason Reifler) and I show in a forthcoming book, public opinion on both those questions is a function of two underlying attitudes: the retrospective opinion of whether the war was a mistake, and the prospective opinion of whether the war can ultimately be won.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/03/16/patton_and_the_2008_vote/
Patton and the 2008 vote
By Jeff Jacoby
Globe Columnist / March 16, 2008
ON THE eve of the Normandy
invasion in 1944, General George S. Patton, addressing the men of the US Third Army, delivered a speech that would become legendary long before George C. Scott reenacted it on a Hollywood
soundstage. "Americans love a winner," Patton growled, "and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win - all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. . . . The very thought of losing is hateful to an American." Nowadays, the thought of losing a war isn't as hateful to some Americans as the thought of losing an election. Recall MoveOn.org's infamous "General Betray Us" ad last fall, which was intended to undercut the commander of US forces in Iraq
. Think of Senate majority leader Harry Reid's insistence that "this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything," or Barack Obama's unbudging claim that the "strategy is failed" and we must "get our troops out," or Hillary Clinton's vow that "starting on day one of my presidency, we will begin . . . to withdraw our troops within 60 days." Were Patton alive today, his opinion of such defeatism would assuredly be unflattering - and unprintable. But his conviction that Americans have no patience for losers would be reinforced by the public's mounting confidence that the war in Iraq
will be won. According to a recent poll from the Pew Research Center, a majority of Americans, 53 percent, are now convinced that the United States will "succeed . . . in achieving its goals" in Iraq. A year ago, just 30 percent of the public thought the military effort in Iraq
was going "very well" or "fairly well." That optimistic view is held today by 48 percent.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/election2008/story/30571.html
GOP immigration strategy may hurt McCain
By Matt Stearns | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Sunday, March 16, 2008
WASHINGTON
- Congressional Republicans continue to push a hard line on illegal immigration, even though that could hinder John McCain's efforts to win over Latino voters in November. Since McCain clinched the Republican presidential nomination earlier this month, conservative Republican senators have introduced a series of tough illegal-immigration measures. In the House of Representatives, immigration hard-liners are trying to force a vote on an enforcement bill, with the support of some conservative Democrats. McCain has opposed most of his party's hardest stands on illegal-immigration law. Instead, he was a key broker of a bipartisan comprehensive bill that collapsed last year because of grassroots conservative opponents who condemned it as amnesty. Because of that stand, McCain is well-regarded by many Latinos, the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority, and a key swing voting bloc. McCain's recently modulated his rhetoric by saying that he now supports ensuring that the borders are secure before moving to comprehensive change in immigration law.
At the same time, on the campaign trail, when questioners refer to "illegal aliens," McCain always responds by referring to "illegal immigrants," calling the difference a matter of respect. In one debate, he mentioned the large number of Latino names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington
. So McCain "is very much respected and loved in the Latino community," said Cecilia Munoz, senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino interest group. But that respect and love could be tested. "(McCain) does stand to be hurt by everything else that's happening in the Republican Party," Munoz said. "The Republican brand in the community has been very heavily tarnished of late. It's unclear whether John McCain can undo it alone."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25538
Democrats Bickering Proves Positive for Republicans
by Martha Zoller
Posted: 03/17/2008
“While Howard Dean has been working hard to be an honest broker, too many involved have been more concerned with headlines than results. It’s never productive to negotiate through the press, but make no mistake; Howard Dean will continue to lead the effort to find a workable solution that’s fair and consistent with the rules.” -- Stacie Paxton, a spokeswoman for the D.N.C.
As the weather gets warmer and we look towards Spring, thoughts in the golf world go the The Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia so it’s appropriate at this time of year to look at the mulligan ( authors note: in golf, a mulligan is a shot retaken, due to an errant shot) the DNC is trying to negotiate.
It seems so long ago when the Howard Dean, Chairman of the DNC, were laying down the law to Michigan and Florida, whose legislatures in conjunction with the local parties scheduled primaries in January. Shame on them. Did anyone really believe that this was going to stand? No, but for election gurus watching the Democrats on the edge of reality is a spectator sport that rivals The Masters in almost every way.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25533
Polls Show Dems Beatable This Year
by Jennifer Rubin
Posted: 03/17/2008
Democrats love to quote the polls or at lease the ones that show their advantages, such as the ones showing President Bush’s approval numbers in the low 30’s. But W isn’t running again: John McCain is. Neither the Democrats nor their allies in the MSM like to spend much time on polls that suggest the political landscape is less inviting for the Democrats than they would like us to believe.
The most significant change in poll results in the last few months has been in regard to public opinion on Iraq
. In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll the number of registered voters who want U.S.
forces to stay in Iraq
until it is “stable” is up to 43%. Moreover, voters favor the Iraq
position of John McCain (35%) over that of Hillary Clinton (30%) and Barack Obama (27%).
This is not an isolated poll. A Newsweek poll from early March showed that percentage of Americans who think we have “made significant progress” in Iraq
is up to 43%, a significant rise from 32% last spring. In a Pew Research poll from late February, 53% of the respondents (regardless of their views on whether we should have gone to war) think that we will definitely or probably succeed in our goals. (The percentage of voters [47%] willing to leave troops until Iraq is stabilized is virtually the same [45%] as those who want to withdraw troops immediately.)
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/457642.html
What can go wrong in the 're-do'? Only everything
Posted on Sun, Mar. 16, 2008
By CARL HIAASEN
Ten most-asked questions about a possible re-do of the Florida Democratic Primary.
1. This whole thing is just a gag, right? Somebody's lame idea of a joke? If only it were. Acting with unfathomable haste and stupidity, the National Democratic Party stripped Florida
of its convention delegates when the state decided to move up the date of its presidential primary. About 1.7 million loyal Democrats showed up on Jan. 29 and voted anyway, though they were basically tinkling into the wind. As fate would have it, the race between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama is now so tight that Florida
's delegates could be crucial in deciding the nominee. That's why some party leaders wanted to ''re-do'' the primary by mail, a long-shot idea that terrifies supporters of both candidates.
2. Does anyone in their right mind believe that Florida
could conduct postal balloting without a major screw-up or scandal? Heavens, no! The whole country is keenly aware that our state is a sump hole of incompetence and corruption. Submitting fraudulent hand-written ballots has always been a favored method of rigging elections here, and there's no reason to think the tradition wouldn't continue.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080317/METRO/510890365/1001
Nation awaits D.C. handgun ruling
By Gary Emerling
The District of Columbia
's fight to preserve its nearly 32-year-old ban on handguns before the U.S. Supreme Court has drawn nationwide attention as a bellwether vote on the limits of gun control."Regardless of who wins and loses, the crucial thing is really going to be what [the justices] are going to say about the Second Amendment," said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Combat Gun Violence. "It will set the ground rules for analyzing almost every gun law in the country for years to come."
Attorneys for the city and Dick Anthony Heller — a special police officer whose failed effort to register a handgun in 2002 helped spur the legal battle — will argue their cases before the justices on Tuesday.Both sides in the case, along with city officials, federal lawmakers and the White House, say the court's decision places much at stake.
"It'll be an issue as important as abortion, gay marriage — these flash points that so divide us in the United States
," said interim D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles, who has led the city's efforts to keep its gun ban. Widespread impact The case will mark the first time in about 70 years that the Supreme Court has examined the Second Amendment, which states: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
The rarity of the case and the potential consequences of the ruling account for the widespread attention it has received: Nearly 70 amicus briefs have been filed on behalf of more than 320 members of Congress, 36 states and other interested parties on both sides of the case.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VEPI4O1&show_article=1&catnum=3
Obama, Clinton
Teams Exchange Fire
Mar 16 06:00 PM US
/Eastern
By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO (AP) - Strategists for Barack Obama pressed an attack on Hillary Rodham Clinton over accountability and ethics on Sunday, demanding that she release more documents on income taxes and foundation donors. The New York
senator's campaign pushed back, accusing her rival of stepping up personal attacks. "This is a tried and true technique of the Obama campaign that has repeatedly shifted negative when they find the momentum working against them," said senior Clinton
strategist Mark Penn. He suggested the Obama campaign was trying to "deflect public opinion from their losses in Ohio
and Texas
" and faced with Clinton
strength in Pennsylvania
. Obama communications director Robert Gibbs called on Clinton to release full post-White House tax returns; disclose all congressional "earmarks," or pet projects she had inserted into spending bills; and to release all documents pertaining to activities to the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Library, including a list of donors. "What is lurking in those documents?" Gibbs asked as the two campaigns had dueling phone conference calls with reporters. "There are gaps that need to be filled," said senior Obama strategist David Axelrod. Obama was heading for Pennsylvania
on Monday to campaign, with stops later in the week likely in North Carolina
and Oregon
. Clinton
prepared to give a speech on the Iraq
war on Monday in Washington
.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_557474.html
In the state, it's politics unusual for Clinton, Obama
By Mike Wereschagin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Patrons pack the bar at Rookie's Restaurant and Sports Pub in Allentown
, but their conversations steer clear of the political battle being waged for their votes.
Bartender Nick Goldsmith keeps an ear on what is said inside this Lehigh
County
joint. If one of the candidates' names comes up, he knows he might have to jump in and shut down an argument before it becomes a fight. Again. "I don't usually discourage it until it gets out of hand," says Goldsmith, 29. That's happened a few times already. "Election nights, especially. They even fight about the news channels. People are complaining, 'You've got Fox News on!' or 'You've got CNN on!' I have to have CNN on one (TV) and Fox on the other." It's likely to get worse. The hard-fought Democratic primary contest is just beginning to touch Pennsylvania
, as Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama try to win the state's 187 delegates. No primary after Pennsylvania
's, on April 22, offers as many delegates. The battleground isn't an even one, political analysts say. Pennsylvania
's long history, complex geography and mix of major cities and rural hamlets give each candidate advantages in some places, obstacles in others. Polls show Clinton
with a double-digit lead, and she is expected to win the state. Obama, however, once trailed Clinton
by similar margins in national polls, and now leads the race for national convention delegates. Unlike some Republican primaries, Democratic primaries and caucuses allocate delegates through often-complex formulas based on the percentage of the vote each candidate gets. In Pennsylvania
, certain congressional districts are weighted to give more delegates to places that turn out more Democratic votes in general elections.
Areas coveted by the candidates include Pittsburgh and Philadelphia; the string of smaller cities, from Allentown to Easton; the Scranton-Wilkes Barre region; and the conservative Pennsylvania Dutch country in Lancaster and York counties. Each has unique demographics and economic needs.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25537
Obama and the Wright-Wing Conspiracy
by Bill Siegel
Posted: 03/17/2008
Barack Obama’s response to the outrageous views and statements of his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah A.Wright Jr., was that he should not be tagged with “guilt by association.” In addition, his surrogates and supporters quickly joined to recite the full gamut of distracting, misdirecting, and irrelevant defenses -- that the pastor doesn’t really mean what he says but uses material to stir up his congregation, whites do not understand the context of the statements, he is permitted these views because of the oppression blacks have endured, if Obama was seeking any other job these statements be irrelevant so ignore them here, only a few of the Reverend’s statements are possibly objectionable, if Obama was white this would be a non-issue, this is not the first time a candidate has been burned by an endorsement, Bush and Reagan visited Bob Jones University, John Hagee has endorsed McCain, Wright is off the campaign now so case closed and so on.
First, the “guilt by association” approach admits guilt. It merely argues over who is guilty. Therefore, any in depth analysis of the virtues or truth of Reverend Wright’s charges is clearly a waste of time. Little could be clearer on its face than the racism, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism spewed by the pastor. The only issue is whether Obama shares in any of this guilt.
The defense rides on the notion that “association” is an insufficient connector between the pastor and the candidate. In law, this defense is often sensible. We typically require significant evidence of connection between parties to pass guilt from one party to another but what constitutes significance depends upon the case. In many other cases, however, the defense does not work. Being members of the same organization can often do the trick. Under the recent Sarbanes-Oxley laws, a CEO can be charged with the offenses committed by a junior officer if he should have been aware. In conspiracy cases, one member of a conspiracy can be guilty of the offenses of another merely by agreeing to be in the conspiracy even if the former was completely unaware of the specific acts of the second and would not have intended those acts himself.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTM4MGVjNzBhMDMxYWI3NjA3NTkzNTA0NjQ0NWJjMDM=
The Wright Questions
What did Obama hear, and when did he hear it?
By Peter Wehner
A few thoughts on the widely played excerpts from the sermons of Barack Obama’s pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago
:
1. This is the worst crisis the Obama campaign has faced. It has done deep and perhaps long-term damage by calling into question the judgment and credibility of the junior senator from Illinois
. And it badly undermines Obama’s claim that he is a figure who can bind up America
’s racial wounds.
2. Senator Obama, whose campaign only last year said that he was “proud of his pastor and his church,” is now saying that he wasn’t aware of the angry, reckless, anti-American, and racially divisive comments by Reverend Wright. But that claim stretches credulity. Reverend Wright, after all, is not a stranger who is offering up a presidential-year endorsement. Wright has instead played a pivotal role in Obama’s life — including marrying Barack and Michelle Obama, baptizing their two children, and inspiring the title of Obama’s second book, The Audacity of Hope.
Senator Obama has been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since the early 1990s. Are we supposed to believe that the kind of venom and vivid hatred that we have all seen on display — that God should damn rather than bless America, that this country created AIDS in an effort to foster genocide, that we had 9/11 coming to us, that America is the “U.S. of K.K.K.A.” and that Israel is a terrorist state — is an anomaly for Wright? That the overwhelming majority of his sermons are expositions on the love of Christ and the need to break down the dividing walls between us? That Obama was utterly shocked to see Wright’s words strung together on cable TV? That he has seen a side of Wright in the last week that he never knew existed?
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9062.html
Obama's church accuses media of character assassination
By LISA LERER & MIKE ALLEN | 3/16/08 2:02 PM EST
CHICAGO
– The church attended by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) fought back Sunday against mounting criticism of its pastor, accusing the media of character assassination and “crucifixion.” Otis Moss III, the current pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, used his pulpit to defend his congregation and its past minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., from a wave of controversy stemming from inflammatory statements made by Wright.
"We have listened and watched as the wonderful work of our church has been vilified this week," he told about 3,000 congregants on Palm Sunday morning. "This week should be special for us because I guess we know a little something about crucifixion."
The church also released a statement that began: “Nearly three weeks before the 40th commemorative anniversary of the murder of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s character is being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe.” Trinity, an 8,000-member church on the South Side of Chicago, came under intense scrutiny over the past week for statements made by Wright that harshly criticized American society as racist and blamed U.S.
leaders for the Sept. 11 attacks. Moss delivered a fiery sermon Sunday, defending the African-American church’s right to speak out about social issues. He stressed Trinity's work in its still-impoverished community, mentioning the church's scholarship programs, drug counseling, SAT prep classes, and missions to Africa
. "Our very sanity is connected to the church. If it hadn't been for the church we would have lost our minds in the insanity of racism," he said, in a sermon titled, "Why the Black Church Won't Shut Up."
Although Moss never mentioned Obama explicitly, he alluded to his most famous parishioner in a prayer asking God to "do something amazing in this country" and "break down walls that are centuries old."
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/16/obama_not_ready_to_cede_pennsy.html?hpid=topnews
Obama Not Ready to Cede Pennsylvania
By Shailagh Murray
The April 22 Pennsylvania
primary poses a tricky challenge for Sen. Barack Obama. Downplay the contest and the risk is a blowout by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. But if the Illinois
senator campaigns hard there and Clinton
still wins handily, a loss could be tougher to spin. David Axelrod, Obama's chief political strategist, told reporters on a conference call this morning that the campaign would go all out to win the Keystone
State
. "We are gong to contest vigorously in Pennsylvania
," he said. "We're going to be running a full campaign." Obama heads tomorrow to Monaca
, Pa.
, west of Pittsburgh
, and then to Scranton
, where he will address an Irish women's group. Both are located in the heart of Clinton
territory. The state's older, blue-collar voter base skews against Obama, but another problem is Pennsylvania
's relatively strict participation rules. Primary voters must register as Democrats as of March 24, nearly a full month before election day. Obama is running radio ads in Pittsburgh
and Philadelphia
to urge students, independents and Republicans -- three key constituencies to keep the race close -- to register as Democrats before the deadline. "She does have a lot of advantages and we recognize that," said Axelrod." "We know we have an uphill fight there. But we're going to fight for every vote and every delegate." Obama reportedly told a group of donors earlier this week that losing Pennsylvania
by 10 points or less would be a "victory."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9063.html
Superdelegates should reflect voters' will
By PATRICK O'CONNOR | 3/16/08 2:12 PM EST
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reiterated her position Sunday that superdelegates should reflect the will of voters in the Democratic nominating process — a nod to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), whose campaign is making the same case. “If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic Party,” Pelosi said in a pretaped interview with ABC’s “This Week.”A pair of Obama surrogates made the same case. On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said, “I think the superdelegates, in the end, will ratify the will of the people and the pledged delegates.” And former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) went even further on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he suggested superdelegates who buck their constituents may face a primary fight during the next election. The Sunday shows heard the opposite view as well, as supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) continued making the case that superdelegates are free to act independently.
“The superdelegates were created as a separate body,” said Leon Panetta, a former White House chief of staff to Bill Clinton. “Yes, they have to consider the popular vote, who’s ahead,” the former California
congressman said. “Yes, they have to consider who’s got the most delegates. But they also have to consider who has the strongest chance of winning in November. And they also have to consider who has the most momentum heading into that race. All of those factors have to be considered.” With the nominating contest deadlocked, Pelosi, who remains neutral, rejected the suggestion that she would need to involve herself in the process to resolve the fight. “I believe this will be over one way or another,” Pelosi said. “It’s a delegate race. In other words, if one wins the Electoral College and one wins the popular vote, guess who’s president of the United States
? The way the system works, the delegates choose the nominee.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1440646120080317?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Clinton
, Obama backers tone down rhetoric
Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:18pm EDT
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Backers of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama toned down their rhetoric on Sunday for fear that party infighting might turn voters against Democrats and deliver their votes into the hands of Republican John McCain. All over the Sunday talk show circuit, journalists tried to get supporters for Clinton and Obama to attack the other side, but time and time again they would not take the bait and tried to stay on the high road. But away from the television studios, campaign aides continued the aggressive back-and-forth that for several weeks has dominated the battle to win the Democratic Party's nomination for November's presidential election. "What is Senator Clinton hiding, and what is lurking in those documents that she believes voters don't have a right to know?" Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs asked in a conference call with reporters, referring to Clinton
's tax returns and records of spending projects she has championed as a New York
senator. Those in Clinton
's camp said Obama, an Illinois
senator, turned to personal attacks whenever his campaign suffered a setback.
"This is a tried and true technique of the Obama campaign that has repeatedly shifted 'negative' when they find momentum working against them," strategist Mark Penn said on a conference call. Clinton
officials went on to say that Obama did not have enough experience to be commander in chief and called on him to release all tax returns and other documents since taking office in the Illinois
legislature in 1997. Both Democratic candidates took the day off on Sunday. The man either of them will face in November, John McCain, was in Baghdad
. With no Republican competition after he won enough delegates for his party's nomination, the Arizona
senator was able to take trips such as this to bolster his foreign policy credentials.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/article418790.ece
Democrats might not need Florida
to win the White House
By Adam C. Smith, Times Political Editor
Published Saturday, March 15, 2008 3:14 PM
A day hasn't gone by lately without some prominent Democrat wringing his or her hands over Florida
's Democratic primary conundrum and darkly warning that Democrats are on the verge of kissing off Florida
's 27 electoral votes. Well, it's time to broach an unspeakable, heretical suggestion in this state: Maybe, just maybe, Democrats can continue snubbing America
's biggest swing state and still march into the White House.
Sorry to say it, folks, but Florida
may not be center of the political universe this year.
"We've been the target for so many years it's very tough for people to think we might not be,'' said Robin Rorapaugh, a veteran Democratic consultant based in Broward County. "But it is still very much up in the air as to Florida
being a targeted state. Part of it is who becomes the nominee, and part of it is balancing the cost of starting a campaign from scratch here." And part of it is the national electoral map that looks a whole lot more hospitable for Democrats than it did in 2004 or 2000. "With all these states it's clearly a resource decision, and if you can win the White House without spending millions of dollars in Florida
, why would you?'' asked Miami-based Democratic consultant Derek Newton. The standard Democratic path is to count on some 15 thoroughly Democratic states like New York
and California
to deliver about 200 electoral votes, and then focus on winning enough swing states to reach the winning number of 270. One Democratic governor once derided the strategy as competing in 16 states and "then hope for a triple bank-shot to win Ohio
or Florida
." But the map is changing. Not only are big swing states such as Ohio
looking more Democratic-leaning than they have in years, but a host of formerly red states from Virginia
to Colorado
look ripe for Democrats to pick off.
The Obama campaign is even talking up their ability to win such solidly red states as Kansas
and North Carolina
. "Right now it's a lot easier to see some red states going to blue,'' said pollster John Zogby, but he cautioned that despite the national political climate no one should underestimate the Democrats' ability to lose.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/democratic_racial_divide.html
Democratic Racial Divide
By Robert Novak
March 17, 2008
WASHINGTON
, D.C.
-- Geraldine Ferraro often has seemed puzzled during nearly 24 years since she was thrust from obscurity as a congresswoman from Queens to become the first woman nominated for vice president of the United States
. But her current confusion is palpable because she has been condemned for repeating what she has heard from fellow supporters of Hillary Clinton and pursuing an apparent major goal of that campaign: to indelibly identify Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama as an African-American. "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," Ferraro told The Daily Breeze newspaper of Torrance
,
Calif.
, on March 7 during a telephone interview published in advance of a paid lecture there. For that she has been reviled as a racist, repudiated by Sen. Clinton herself and cashiered from a largely honorary campaign finance post. Ferraro's confusion is manifested by her elaborating rather than disavowing what she said, as if to ask: Isn't this really what Hillary thinks?
The Ferraro fiasco provides more evidence that Obama, as the first African-American with a real chance to become president, has exposed an ugly racial divide in what was supposed to be a colorblind Democratic Party. The tensions revealed in private conversations are far more alarming than public declarations and could cost Democrats the election of the next president. Ferraro's specific remarks were so impolitic that there is no chance they were designed by Clinton
's campaign. Nevertheless, they echo what has been heard from the Clinton
camp, especially Bill Clinton calling Obama another Jesse Jackson, who relies on massive support from fellow African-Americans. Many Democrats conclude that the Clinton
strategy has been to depict Obama as the black candidate once he became a serious challenger. Even in apologizing to a black audience Thursday, Sen. Clinton linked Obama and Jackson.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120571162174340261.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
The Divided